This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Computing systems are often used for servicing large groups of individuals, such as employees at companies, etc. In order to accommodate the workloads associated with or demanded by such individuals, the computing systems typically comprise a plurality of electronic equipment such as computer servers, telecommunications devices, etc. Usually, such equipment is located together at a particular location (e.g., in data center, a server room, etc.) for centralized administration, and is housed in standardized racks and rack-mountable equipment enclosures. In connection therewith, and in order to facilitate such administration, card readers are often housed with the equipment in the racks and are provided in communication with the equipment. In particular, the card readers are used to authenticate administrators or others when attempting to access the equipment for maintenance or otherwise.
As indicated above, the racks used to house the electronic equipment associated with the computing systems are typically constructed based on certain industry standards (for example, in accordance with standards implemented by the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA)) to ensure uniformity and compatibility of the racks and corresponding rack-mounted devices included therein. For instance, a standardized “19-inch” rack may require each the vertical rail included therein to be generally square in section and to have a width dimension of 0.625 inches (15.88 mm), and may require a spacing between adjacent vertical rails to be 17.75 inches (450.85 mm). As such, an overall width of the rack may be 19 inches (482.60 mm), when measured from an outer edge of one vertical rail to an outer edge of the adjacent vertical rail of the rack. In connection therewith, and as part of such standardization, rack-mountable devices (such as brackets, shelves, drawers, etc.) to be used in the 19-inch rack typically have a width dimension of 19 inches, and a height dimension that is some integer or multiple of 1.75 inches (44.45 mm) (or that is some multiple of one unit length (“1U”)). Thus, a 1U mounting bracket has a height of 1.75 inches, while a 2U server has a height (or potentially a width) of 3.5 inches, and so forth.
With that said, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a typical, prior art equipment rack 1 (for example, a 19-inch rack). The equipment rack 1 includes a frame 3, comprising multiple vertical rails 5 and multiple horizontal rails 7 for use in mounting individual equipment in the rack 1. In particular in the rack 1, mounts 9 are coupled to the forward vertical rails 5 (via openings in the rails 5) to hold servers/telecommunications devices 11 in the rack 1 and a support bracket 13 is coupled to the adjacent forward vertical rails 5 to hold card readers 15 in the rack 1 (FIG. 1). The card readers 15 are then connected to the servers/telecommunications devices 11 via cords 17 extending, behind the bracket 13, from rear portions of the card readers 15 to the servers/telecommunications devices 11 (FIG. 2). With additional reference to FIG. 3, the support bracket 13 includes four pairs of integral arms 19 (i.e., eight total arms 19) extending away from a rearward portion of the bracket 13 (in a vertically alternating configuration such that an arm 19 of one pair is vertically aligned with an arm 19 of an adjacent pair). As such, the support bracket 13 is configured to hold four of the card readers 15 in the rack 1, with each of the card readers 15 positioned between one of the pairs of arms 19. In so doing, card slots 21 of the card readers 15 are aligned with (and are accessible through) forward openings 23 of the bracket 13. However, the bracket openings 23 are generally smaller in size than the overall dimensions of the card readers 15, such that the card readers 15 may not be able to slide through the openings 23 (the openings 23 are typically configured to only allow access to the card slots 21). Accordingly, in order to position the card readers 15 in the rack 1, the card readers 15 are typically coupled to the support bracket 13 first, and the support bracket 13 is then coupled to the vertical rails 5 of the rack 1.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.